In a previous article, I outlined the basic methodology of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism, which relied above all upon the collation and comparison of transmissions to establish the reliability of tradents. In the present article, I turn instead to the following historical question: who were the pioneers of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism, and via whom did it spread? Who were its most famous practitioners, and who produced its key literature? In what follows, I rely upon classical Sunnī Hadith-related prosopography—above all, the work of the Syrian Hadith scholar Muḥammad b. ʾAḥmad b al-Ḏahabī (d. 748/1348)—to sketch a basic genealogy of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism, in the form of a chronological summary of the key personalities involved.
To be clear, our concern in the present context is not to list mere transmitters or collectors of Hadith, nor those who merely evaluated Hadith, nor those who were merely critical towards Hadith in some general sense. Rather, we are concerned with those engaged in the authentication (taṣḥīḥ) and impugning (taḍʿīf) of hadiths, and the impugning (jarḥ) and accrediting (taʿdīl) of tradents, specifically using the methodology of those known as “Hadith critics” (al-jahābiḏah and nuqqād al-ḥadīṯ) within the broader proto-Sunnī Hadith movement (ʾaṣḥāb al-ḥadīṯ). This early movement and its methodology are to be contrasted with the approaches and methods of: the early rationalists (ʾaṣḥāb al-kalām), including the proto-Muʿtazilah; the early regionalist jurists (ʾaṣḥāb al-raʾy), including the proto-Ḥanafiyyah and proto-Mālikiyyah; the proto-Šīʿah; and so on. This methodology is even to be contrasted with that used by later classical Sunnī Hadith scholars, who combined it with some concepts and criteria inherited from the early rationalists. Thus, classical Sunnī Hadith scholars are included in my chronological prosopography of Hadith criticism more as transmitters of its results, rather than as practitioners of the methodology per se.
The Hadith-critical methodology itself—which was based above all on the collation of transmissions and the establishing of corroboration thereby—is not the subject of the present article, and has been discussed elsewhere. Instead, the focus of the present article is the genealogy of this methodology and the transmission of its results, from the proto-Sunnī Hadith-critical movement to the classical Sunnī tradition of Hadith scholarship.
al-Ḏahabī’s Historical Summary of Hadith Criticism
According to al-Ḏahabī, Hadith criticism—meaning, the specific Hadith methodology under consideration—originated with the proto-Sunnī Basran traditionist Šuʿbah b. al-Ḥajjāj (d. 160/777):
ʾAbū Bisṭām [Šuʿbah b. al-Ḥajjāj] was: a leading scholar (ʾimām); reliable (ṯabt); a proof (ḥujjah); a critic [of Hadith] (nāqid); an assayer [of Hadith] (jihbiḏ); a pious man (ṣāliḥ); a renunciant (zāhid); someone who was content with what he had (qāniʿ bi-al-qūt); a leader in knowledge and [putting knowledge into] practice (raʾs fī al-ʿilm wa-al-ʿamal); and unmatched (munqaṭiʿ al-qarīn). He was the first who criticised and established the reliability [of tradents] (wa-huwa ʾawwal man jaraḥa wa-ʿaddala). Yaḥyá b. Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, Ibn Mahdī, and a group [of scholars] took this [methodology] from him.[1]
Elsewhere, al-Ḏahabī—quoting from the work of the earlier Basran historian Muḥammad b. Yazīd al-Mubarrid (d. 286/899)—cited a report directly from Šuʿbah himself, regarding his own contribution to the study of Hadith:
Al-Mubarrid: “Yazīd b. Muḥammad al-Muhallabī related to us: “Al-ʾAṣmaʿī related to me: “I heard Šuʿbah say: “I do not know of anyone who scrutinised Hadith [whose investigation was] comparable to my investigation (mā ʾaʿlamu ʾaḥadan fattaša al-ḥadīṯ ka-taftīšī). I discovered that three quarters thereof are false (waqaftu ʿalá ʾanna ṯalāṯat ʾarbāʿi-hi kaḏib).””””[2]
The gist of Šuʿbah’s novel Hadith-critical methodology—which was based above all upon the collation of transmissions and the establishing of corroboration thereby—is also outlined in a report of his, as recorded by the later Hadith critic ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAdī al-Qaṭṭān (d. 365/976):
ʾAḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Madāʾinī related to us: “Muḥammad b. ʿAmr b. Nāfiʿ related to us: “Nuʿaym b. Ḥammād related to us—he said: “I heard Ibn Mahdī recount of Šuʿbah [that] it was said to him: “Who is the one whose Hadith are rejected (man allaḏī yutraku ḥadīṯu-hu)?” He said: “If he transmits from well-known [tradents] that which is unknown to [other] well-known [tradents] (ʾiḏā rawá ʿan al-maʿrūfīn mā lā yaʿrifu-hu al-maʿrūfūn) and does so frequently (fa-ʾakṯara), his Hadith are rejected (ṭuriḥa ḥadīṯu-hu); and if he is excessive in error (wa-ʾiḏā kaṯura al-ḡalaṭ), his Hadith are rejected (ṭuriḥa ḥadīṯu-hu); and if he is suspected of lying (wa-ʾiḏā uttuhima bi-al-kaḏib), his Hadith are rejected (ṭuriḥa ḥadīṯu-hu); and if transmits a hadith that is agreed to be erroneous (wa-ʾiḏā rawá ḥadīṯ ḡalaṭ mujtamaʿ ʿalay-hi), yet he does not indict himself therefor (fa-lam yattahim nafsa-hu ʿinda-hu) and reject it [accordingly] (wa-taraka-hu), then his Hadith are rejected (ṭuriḥa ḥadīṯu-hu). Whatever is other than that, transmit from him (wa-mā kāna ḡayr ḏālika fa-irwi ʿan-hu).””””[3]
From Šuʿbah, this basic methodology reportedly spread to his Basran students Yaḥyá b. Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān (d. 198/813) and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī (d. 198/814), as was described already by al-Ḏahabī. From Yaḥyá in particular, Hadith criticism spread to others in Basrah, the rest of Iraq, and beyond, as is again recounted by al-Ḏahabī:
Great scholars have composed numerous works concerning the impugning [of tradents] and the establishing of [their] reliability (wa-qad ʾallafa al-ḥuffāẓ muṣannafāt jammatan fī al-jarḥ wa-al-taʿdīl), ranging [in their compositional tendencies] from [brief] summarisation to [lengthy] elaboration (mā bayna iḵtiṣār wa-taṭwīl).
The first of those whose pronouncements thereon were collected (fa-ʾawwal man jumiʿa kalāmu-hu fī ḏālika) was the scholar about whom ʾAḥmad b. Ḥanbal declared: “I never saw with my own eyes [anyone else] like Yaḥyá b. Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān.”
His students after him [also] made pronouncements thereon (takallama fī ḏālika): Yaḥyá b. Maʿīn; ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī; ʾAḥmad b. Ḥanbal; ʿAmr b. ʿAlī al-Fallās; and ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah.
[They were followed in turn by] their students, such as: ʾAbū Zurʿah; ʾAbū Ḥātim; al-Buḵārī; Muslim; and ʾAbū ʾIsḥāq al-Jūzajānī al-Saʿdī.
[They were followed in turn by] a group of scholars after them, such as: al-Nasāʾī; Ibn Ḵuzaymah; al-Tirmiḏī; al-Dawlābī; and al-ʿUqaylī, who had a useful work concerning information on weak tradents (muṣannaf mufīd fī maʿrifat al-ḍuʿafāʾ).
ʾAbū Ḥātim b. Ḥibbān [also] had a large book thereon, which I have in my possession. ʾAbū ʾAḥmad b. ʿAdī [also] had the Kitāb al-Kāmil; it was the most complete and greatest of the books thereon (huwa ʾakmal al-kutub wa-ʾajallu-hā fī ḏālika). [Additionally, there was] the book of ʾAbū al-Fatḥ al-ʾAzdī; the book of ʾAbū Muḥammad b. ʾabī Ḥātim concerning the impugning [of tradents] and the establishing of [their] reliability (fī al-jarḥ wa-al-taʿdīl); al-Dāraquṭnī’s al-Ḍuʿafāʾ; al-Ḥākim’s al-Ḍuʿafāʾ; and others.
Additionally, Ibn Ṭāhir al-Maqdisī has supplemented Ibn ʿAdī’s al-Kāmil in a book that I have not seen, and ʾAbū al-Faraj b. al-Jawzī composed a large book thereon that I initially condensed and then supplemented with one addendum after another (kuntu iḵtaṣartu-hu ʾawwalan ṯumma ḏayyaltu ʿalay-hi ḏaylan baʿda ḏayl).[4]
Of course, the question of the precise founder or founders of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism has been greatly debated. Some traditional sources identify several co-founders of Hadith criticism alongside Šuʿbah, operating in multiple regions—for example, according to the Rāzī Hadith critic ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʾabī Ḥātim (d. 327/938):
Amongst the Hadith-critical scholars (al-ʿulamāʾ al-jahābiḏah al-nuqqād)—whom God made to have knowledge of Islam, and to be exemplary in the religion, and to be critics of the transmission of reports—of the first generation are: Mālik b. ʾAnas [Madinan; d. 179/795] and Sufyān b. ʿUyaynah [Kufo-Meccan; d. 198/814], in the Hijaz; Sufyān al-Ṯawrī [Kufan; d. 161/777-778], Šuʿbah b. al-Ḥajjāj [Basran; d. 160/777], and Ḥammād b. Zayd [Basran; d. 179/795], in Iraq; and [ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAmr] al-ʾAwzāʿī [d. 151-157/768-774], in Syria.[5]
By contrast, Eerik Dickinson and Christopher Melchert have recently argued that Hadith criticism actually postdates all of these figures,[6] seemingly only appearing at the turn of the 9th Century CE with the likes of Yaḥyá.[7] This ongoing debate will be explored in a further article—for now, it suffices to acknowledge that there is some murkiness and debate regarding the first two generations of Hadith critics.
A Prosopographical Chronology of Hadith Criticism
What follows is a list of biographical summaries, in chronological order, of the key figures involved in the development of Hadith criticism and the transmission of its results, variously based on (1) the descriptions of al-Ḏahabī and similar sources, (2) recent scholarship in the field of Hadith Studies, and (3) my own direct experience of the key authorities cited in Hadith-critical works. Each biographical summary is accompanied by a link to a relevant entry in an online version of the Siyar ʾAʿlām al-Nubalāʾ of al-Ḏahabī or, in the case of the last few (i.e., al-Ḏahabī and those who came after him), the online Tarājim ʿAbr al-Taʾrīḵ database.
This list is certainly not exhaustive, especially in regards to later generations; but it should still give a clear idea of the major figures involved in the development and application of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism, and the transmission of its results, across the first millennium of Islamic history.
THE EMERGENCE OF HADITH CRITICISM.[8]
Šuʿbah b. al-Ḥajjāj:
ʾAbū Bisṭām Šuʿbah b. al-Ḥajjāj; mawlá of Banū ʿAtīk b. al-ʾAzd; Basran; 6th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 80-82/699-702; d. 160/777.
Yaḥyá b. Saʿīd:
ʾAbū Saʿīd Yaḥyá b. Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān; mawlá of Banū Tamīm; Basran; student of Šuʿbah; 9th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 120/737-738; d. 198/813.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī:
ʾAbū Saʿīd ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Mahdī; mawlá of Banū al-ʿAnbar b. ʿAmr b. Tamīm or Banū al-ʾAzd; Basran; student of Šuʿbah; 9th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 135/752-753; d. 198/814.
THE HEYDAY OF HADITH CRITICISM.[9]
Yaḥyá b. Maʿīn:
ʾAbū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyá b. Maʿīn; mawlá of Banū Murrah b. ʿAwf b. Saʿd b. Ḏubyān b. Buḡayḍ b. Rayṯ b. Ḡaṭafān; Baghdadian; student of Yaḥyá and Ibn Mahdī; 13th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 158/774-775; d. 233/848.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=1961&bk_no=60&flag=1
ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī:
ʾAbū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Madīnī; mawlá of Banū Saʿd; Basran; student of Yaḥyá and Ibn Mahdī; 13th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 161/777-778; d. 234/849.
Ibn Numayr:
ʾAbū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Numayr; mawlá of Banū Ḵārif min Ḥāšid min Hamdān; Kufan; student of Ibn Mahdī; 13th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. c. 160/776-777; d. 234/849.
ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah:
ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah Zuhayr b. Ḥarb; mawlá of Banū al-Ḥarīš; Khurasanian, then Baghdadian; student of Yaḥyá al-Qaṭṭān and Ibn Mahdī; 13th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 160/776-777; d. 234/849.
ʾAḥmad b. Ḥanbal:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh ʾAḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ḥanbal; member of Banū Šaybān; Baghdadian; student of Yaḥyá al-Qaṭṭān and Ibn Mahdī; author of al-Musnad; 13th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 164/780; d. 241/855.
al-Fallās:
ʾAbū Ḥafṣ ʿAmr b. ʿAlī al-Fallās; mawlá of Banū Bāhilah; Basran; student of Yaḥyá al-Qaṭṭān; 12th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. post-160/776-777; d. 249/863-864.
al-Buḵārī:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʾIsmāʿīl al-Buḵārī; mawlá of Banū Juʿfá; Transoxanian; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, and al-Fallās; author of al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ and al-Taʾrīḵ al-Kabīr and al-Taʾrīḵ al-Ṣaḡīr and al-Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Ṣaḡīr; 14th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 194/810; d. 256/870.
al-Saʿdī al-Jūzajānī:
ʾAbū ʾIsḥāq ʾIbrāhīm b. Yaʿqūb al-Saʿdī; descendant of al-ʾAḥnaf b. Qays al-Tamīmī; Jūzajānī, then Damascene; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, and Ibn Ḥanbal; author of ʾAḥwāl al-Rijāl; 14th [?] Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 256-259/870-873.
al-ʿIjlī:
ʾAbū al-Ḥasan ʾAḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim al-ʿIjlī; Kufan, then Tripolitan; author of Taʾrīḵ al-Ṯiqāt; 14th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 182/798-799; d. 261/874-875.
Muslim:
ʾAbū al-Ḥusayn Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj al-Naysābūrī; mawlá of Banū Qušayr; Khurasanian; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, and al-Fallās; author of al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ; 14th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 202-206/817-822; d. 261/875.
Yaʿqūb b. Šaybah:
ʾAbū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb b. Šaybah; mawlá of Banū Sadūs; Basran, then Baghdadian; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn Numayr, and Ibn Ḥanbal; 14th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. c. 180/796-797; d. 262/875.
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=2315&bk_no=60&flag=1
ʾAbū Zurʿah al-Rāzī:
ʾAbū Zurʿah ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Yazīd b. Farrūḵ b. Dāwūd; mawlá of ʿAyyāš b. Muṭarrif al-Qurašī; Rāzī; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Fallās, and al-Saʿdī al-Jūzajānī; 14th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. post-200/815-816; d. 264/878.
Ibn Mājah:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Yazīd b. Mājah; mawlá of Banū Rabīʿah; Qazwīnī; student of Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, and al-Fallās; author of al-Sunan; 15th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 209/824-825; d. 273/887.
ʾAbū Dāwūd:
ʾAbū Dāwūd Sulaymān b. al-ʾAšʿaṯ b. Šaddād al-ʾAzdī; mawlá or member (?) of Banū al-ʾAzd; Sijistanian; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Fallās, and al-Saʿdī al-Jūzajānī; author of al-Sunan; 15th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 202/817-818; d. 275/889.
ʾAbū Ḥātim al-Rāzī:
ʾAbū Ḥātim Muḥammad b. ʾIdrīs b. al-Munḏir b. Dāwūd b. Mihrān; mawlá of Banū Tamīm b. Ḥanẓalah b. Ḡaṭafān; Rāzī; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī, Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, and al-Fallās; 15th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 195/810-811; d. 277/890.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=2526&bk_no=60&flag=1
al-Tirmiḏī:
ʾAbū ʿĪsá Muḥammad b. ʿĪsá al-Tirmiḏī; mawlá or member (?) of Banū Sulaym; Transoxanian; student of al-Fallās, al-Buḵārī, and al-Saʿdī al-Jūzajānī; author of al-Jāmiʿ and al-ʿIlal; 15th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. c. 210/825-826; d. 279/892.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=2530&bk_no=60&flag=1
Ibn ʾabī Ḵayṯamah:
ʾAbū Bakr ʾAḥmad b. ʾabī Ḵayṯamah Zuhayr; mawlá of Banū al-Ḥarīš; Baghdadian; student of ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah and Ibn Ḥanbal; author of al-Taʾrīḵ al-Kabīr; 12th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 185/801; d. 279/892-893.
al-Fasawī:
ʾAbū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb b. Sufyān b. Jawwān; Persian; Fasawī; 15th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. c. 190/805-806; d. 277/890-891 or 280-281/893-895.
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=2504&bk_no=60&flag=1
Ibn Ḵirāš:
ʾAbū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Yūsuf b. Saʿīd b. Ḵirāš; Marwazī, then Baghdadian; student of al-Fallās and al-Fasawī; 16th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 283/896.
ʿAbd Allāh b. ʾAḥmad:
ʾAbū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd Allāh b. ʾAḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ḥanbal; member of Banū Šaybān; Baghdadian; student of Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn Numayr, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, and al-Fallās; author of al-ʿIlal; 16th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 213/828-829; d. 290/903.
Jazarah/Ṣāliḥ:
ʾAbū ʿAlī Jazarah Ṣāliḥ b. Muḥammad; mawlá of Banū ʾAsad b. Ḵuzaymah; Baghdadian; student of Ibn al-Madīnī, ʾAbū Ḵayṯamah, Ibn Ḥanbal, and ʾAbū Dāwūd; 16th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 205/820-821; d. 293/906.
al-Nasāʾī:
ʾAbū ʿAbd al‑Raḥmān ʾAḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Sinān b. Baḥr b. Dīnār al-Nasāʾī; Persian (?); Khurasanian, settled in Egypt; student of al-Fallās, al-Saʿdī al-Jūzajānī, ʾAbū Ḥātim, and al-Fasawī; author of al-Sunan al-Kubrá and al-Sunan al-Ṣuḡrá and al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa-al-Matrūkīn; 17th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 215/830-831; d. 303/915-916.
al-Sājī:
ʾAbū Yaḥyá Zakariyyāʾ b. Yaḥyá al-Sājī; member of Banū Ḍabbah; Basran; 17th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 307/919-920.
al-Dawlābī:
ʾAbū Bišr Muḥammad b. ʾAḥmad al-Dawlābī; mawlá of al-ʾAnṣār; Rāzī; student of al-Saʿdī al-Jūzajānī, ʾAbū Dāwūd, and ʾAbū Ḥātim; 17th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 214/829-830; d. 310/923.
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=2905&bk_no=60&flag=1
Ibn Ḵuzaymah:
ʾAbū Bakr Muḥammad b. ʾIsḥāq b. Ḵuzaymah; mawlá of Banū Sulaym; Khurasanian; student of al-Fallās and al-Fasawī; author of al-Ṣaḥīḥ; 17th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 223/837-838; d. 311/924.
ʾAbū ʿAwānah:
ʾAbū ʿAwānah Yaʿqūb b. ʾIsḥāq b. ʾIbrāhīm b. Yazīd al-ʾIsfarāyīnī; Persian (?); Khurasanian; student of ʾAbū Zurʿah, ʾAbū Dāwūd, ʾAbū Ḥātim, al-Fasawī, and ʿAbd Allāh b. ʾAḥmad; author of al-Musnad al-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Muḵarraj ʿalá Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim; 17th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. post-230/844-845; d. 316/929.
Ibn Ṣāʿid:
ʾAbū Muḥammad Yaḥyá b. Muḥammad b. Ṣāʿid b. Kātib; mawlá of ʾAbū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr; Baghdadian; student of al-Buḵārī; 18th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 228/842-843; d. 318/930.
al-ʿUqaylī:
ʾAbū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAmr b. Mūsá b. Ḥammād b. Ṣāʿid; mawlá or member (?) of Banū ʿUqayl; Meccan; student of ʿAbd Allāh b. ʾAḥmad; author of al-Ḍuʿafāʾ; 18th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 322/933-934.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&flag=1&ID=3130&bk_no=60
Ibn ʾabī Ḥātim:
ʾAbū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʾabī Ḥātim Muḥammad b. ʾIdrīs; mawlá of Banū Tamīm b. Ḥanẓalah b. Ḡaṭafān; Rāzī; student of ʾAbū Zurʿah, ʾAbū Ḥātim, and al-Dawlābī; author of al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl; 15th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 240-241/854-856; d. 327/938.
Ibn Ḥibbān:
ʾAbū Ḥātim Muḥammad b. Ḥibbān al-Bustī; member of Banū Tamīm; Khurasanian; student of al-Nasāʾī, al-Dawlābī, and Ibn Ḵuzaymah; author of al-Ṣaḥīḥ and al-Ṯiqāt and al-Majrūḥīn and Mašāhīr ʿUlamāʾ al-ʾAmṣār; 20th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 270/883-884; d. 354/965.
al-Rāmahurmuzī:
ʾAbū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ḵallād al-Rāmahurmuzī; Persian; student of al-Sājī; author of al-Muḥaddiṯ al-Fāṣil; 20th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 360/970-971.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&flag=1&ID=3446&bk_no=60
al-Ṭabarānī:
ʾAbū al-Qāsim Sulaymān b. ʾAḥmad b. ʾAyyūb b. Muṭayyir al-Ṭabarānī; member of Laḵm; Palestinian; student of ʿAbd Allāh b. ʾAḥmad, al-Nasāʾī, al-Sājī, al-Dawlābī, ʾAbū ʿAwānah, and Ibn Ṣāʿid; author of al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr and al-Muʿjam al-ʾAwsaṭ; 20th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 260/873; d. 360/971.
Ibn ʿAdī al-Qaṭṭān al-Jurjānī:
ʾAbū ʾAḥmad ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAdī al-Qaṭṭān b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Mubārak; Persian (?); Jurjānī; student of ʾAbū Zurʿah, al-Nasāʾī, al-Sājī, al-Dawlābī, Ibn Ḵuzaymah, ʾAbū ʿAwānah, and Ibn Ṣāʿid; author of al-Kāmil fī Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Rijāl; 20th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 277/890-891; d. 365/976.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3503&bk_no=60&flag=1
ʾAbū al-Šayḵ al-ʾAṣbahānī:
ʾAbū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar b. Ḥayyān; Persian (?); Isfahanian; student of al-Sājī; author of al-Ḍuʿafāʾ and Ṭabaqāt al-Muḥaddiṯīn bi-ʾAṣbahān; 20th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 274/887-888; d. 369/979.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3591&bk_no=60&flag=1
ʾAbū al-Fatḥ al-ʾAzdī:
ʾAbū al-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʾAḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Buraydah; mawlá or member (?) of Banū al-ʾAzd; Mawṣilī, then Baghdadian; author of ʾAsmāʾ Man yuʿrafu bi-Kunyati-hi and al-Kuná li-Man lā yuʿrafu la-hu Ism min ʾAṣḥāb al-Nabiyy and Ḏikr Ism Kull Ṣaḥābiyy; 21st Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 374/985.
Ibn Šāhīn:
ʾAbū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar b. ʾAḥmad b. ʿUṯmān b. ʾAḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʾAyyūb b. ʾAzdāḏ; Persian (?); Baghdadian; Ḥanbalī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; student of Ibn Ṣāʿid; author of Taʾrīḵ ʾAsmāʾ al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa-al-Kaḏḏābīn and Ḏikr Man iḵtalafa al-ʿUlamāʾ wa-Nuqqād al-Ḥadīṯ fī-hi; 21st Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 297/909; d. 385/995.
https://islamweb.org/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3719&bk_no=60&flag=1
al-Dāraquṭnī:
ʾAbū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿUmar b. ʾAḥmad b. Mahdī b. Masʿūd b. al-Nuʿmān b. Dīnār b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Dāraquṭnī; Baghdadian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; student of Ibn Ṣāʿid; author of al-Sunan and al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa-al-Matrūkīn; 21st generation (Ḏ.); b. 306/918-919; d. 385/995.
THE DECLINE OF HADITH CRITICISM.[10]
Ibn Mandah:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʾIsḥāq b. Muḥammad b. Yaḥyá b. Mandah; mawlá of ʿAbd al-Qays; Isfahanian; Ḥanbalī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; student of Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ṭabarānī, and ʾAbū al-Šayḵ; author of Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah; 22nd Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 310-311/922-924; d. 395/1005.
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3831&bk_no=60&flag=1
al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Ḥamdawayh b. Nuʿaym b. al-Ḥakam al-Ḥākim al-Ḍabbī; Persian (?); Khurasanian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; student of Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Dāraquṭnī, and Ibn Mandah; author of al-Mustadrak ʿalá al-Ṣaḥīḥayn; 22nd Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 321/933; d. 405/1014.
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3918&bk_no=60&flag=1
ʾAbū Nuʿaym al-ʾAṣbahānī:
ʾAbū Nuʿaym ʾAḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʾAḥmad b. ʾIsḥāq b. Mūsá b. Mihrān; Persian (?); Isfahanian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; student of al-Ṭabarānī, ʾAbū al-Fatḥ al-ʾAzdī, al-Dāraquṭnī, Ibn Mandah, and al-Ḥākim; author of al-Musnad al-Mustaḵraj ʿalá Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and Ḥilyat al-ʾAwliyāʾ and Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah and al-Ḍuʿafāʾ; 23rd Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 336/947-948; d. 430/1038.
al-Bayhaqī:
ʾAbū Bakr ʾAḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Mūsá al-Ḵusrawjirdī al-Bayhaqī; Persian (?); Khurasanian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; student of al-Ḥākim; author of al-Sunan al-Kubrá and al-Sunan al-Ṣuḡrá; 24th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 384/994; d. 458/1066.
THE RISE OF SEMI-RATIONALISM.[11]
al-Ḵaṭīb al-Baḡdādī:
ʾAbū Bakr ʾAḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ṯābit b. ʾAḥmad b. Mahdī al-Ḵaṭīb; Baghdadian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; student of ʾAbū Nuʿaym; author of Taʾrīḵ Baḡdād and al-Kifāyah fī ʿIlm al-Riwāyah and al-Jāmiʿ li-ʾAḵlāq al-Rāwī wa-ʾÂdāb al-Sāmiʿ; 24th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 392/1002; d. 463/1071.
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=4422&bk_no=60&flag=1
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr:
ʾAbū ʿUmar Yūsuf b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Barr; member of Banū al-Namir b. Qāsiṭ; Cordovan; Mālikī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; author of al-Tamhīd and al-Istīʿāb and al-Istiḏkār; 24th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 368/978; d. 463/1071.
Ibn Ṭāhir al-Maqdisī:
ʾAbū al-Faḍl Muḥammad b. Ṭāhir b. al-Qaysarānī al-Maqdisī al-ʾAṯarī; Palestinian; Ẓāhirī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; author of Taḏkirat al-Mawḍūʿāt; 27th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 408/1018; d. 507/1113.
al-Baḡawī:
ʾAbū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn b. Masʿūd b. Muḥammad b. al-Farrāʾ al-Baḡawī; Persian (?); Khurasanian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; author of Muʿjam al-Ṣaḥābah and Šarḥ al-Sunnah; 27th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); d. 516/1122.
Ibn ʿAsākir:
ʾAbū al-Qāsim ʿAlī b. ʾabī Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. Hibat Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥusayn; Damascene; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; composed Taʾrīḵ Madīnat Dimašq; 30th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 499/1105; d. 519/1125.
Ibn al-Jawzī:
ʾAbū al-Faraj ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad; member of Banū Taym min Qurayš; Baghdadian; Ḥanbalī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; author of al-Mawḍūʿāt and al-Ḍuʿafāʾ wa-al-Matrūkīn and al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah; 31st Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 509-510/1115-1117; d. 597/1201.
Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ:
ʾAbū ʿAmr ʿUṯmān b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUṯmān b. Mūsá; Kurdish; Syrian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; author of Maʿrifat ʾAnwāʿ ʿIlm al-Ḥadīṯ; 34th Islamic generation (Ḏ.); b. 577/1181-1182; d. 643/1245:
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=6011&bk_no=60&flag=1
Ibn Taymiyyah:
ʾAbū al-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm b. ʿAbd al-Salām b. ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḵaḍir b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Taymiyyah; member of Banū Numayr; Ḥarrānī, then Damascene; Ḥanbalī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; b. 661/1263; d. 728/1328.
al-Ḏahabī:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʾAḥmad b. ʿUṯmān b. Qāymāz al-Ḏahabī; Turkman; Syrian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; student of Ibn Taymiyyah; author of Siyar ʾAʿlām al-Nubalāʾ and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl fī Naqd al-Rijāl and Taʾrīḵ al-ʾIslām and Taḏkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ; b. 673/1274; d. 748/1348.
https://tarajm.com/people/19862
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah:
ʾAbū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. [Qayyim al-Jawziyyah] ʾabī Bakr b. ʾAyyūb al-Ḥanbalī; Damascene; Ḥanbalī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; student of Ibn Taymiyyah; b. 691/1292; d. 751/1350.
https://tarajm.com/people/19823
Ibn Rajab:
ʾAbū al-Faraj ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʾAḥmad b. Rajab; Levantine; Ḥanbalī in jurisprudence and ʾAṯarī in theology; student of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah; author of Šarḥ ʿIlal al-Tirmiḏiyy; b. 736/1335; d. 795/1393.
https://tarajm.com/people/17091
Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī:
ʾAbū al-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. al-Ḥusayn al-ʿIrāqī; Kurdish; Egyptian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; author of Ḏayl Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl; b. 725/1324-1325; d. 806/1404.
https://tarajm.com/people/15075
Walī al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī:
ʾAbū Zurʿah ʾAḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-ʿIrāqī; Kurdish; Egyptian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; student of Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī; author of al-Mudallisīn; b. 762/1360-1361; d. 826/1422.
https://tarajm.com/people/13807
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī:
ʾAbū al-Faḍl ʾAḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-ʿAsqalānī; Egyptian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; student of Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī; author of Tahḏīb al-Tahḏīb and Ṭabaqāt al-Mudallisīn; b. 773/1371; d. 852/1449.
https://tarajm.com/people/16643
al-Suyūṭī:
ʾAbū al-Faḍl ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʾabī Bakr b. Muḥammad al-Suyūṭī; Persian and Circassian; Egyptian; Šāfiʿī in jurisprudence and ʾAšʿarī in theology; author of ʾAsmāʾ al-Mudallisīn; b. 849/1445; d. 911/1505.
https://tarajm.com/people/11931
This list will be updated periodically to include more key figures from the history of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism as my research continues.
* * *
I owe special thanks to ʿAlī Jabbār, for helping to clarify certain textual points; Terron Poole, for creating the artwork used herein; and Yet Another Student, for his generous support over on my Patreon.
[1] Muḥammad b. ʾAḥmad al-Ḏahabī (ed. Šuʿayb al-ʾArnaʾūṭ et al.), Siyar ʾAʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 7, 2nd ed. (Beirut, Lebanon: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1982), p. 206.
[2] Ibid., p. 226.
[3] ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAdī al-Qaṭṭān (ed. Māzin b. Muḥammad al-Sarsāwī), al-Kāmil fī Ḍuʿafāʾ al-Rijāl, vol. 1 (Riyadh, KSA: Maktabat al-Rušd, n. d.), pp. 365-366, # 925.
[4] Muḥammad b. ʾAḥmad al-Ḏahabī (ed. ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Bijāwī), Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl fī Naqd al-Rijāl, vol. 1 (Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n. d.), pp. 1-2.
[5] ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʾabī Ḥātim, Kitāb al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl, vol. 1 (Beirut, Lebanon: Dār ʾIḥyāʾ al-Turāṯ al-ʿArabiyy, 1952), p. 10.
[6] See esp. Eerik Dickinson, The Development of Early Sunnite Ḥadīth Criticism: The Taqdima of Ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī (240/854-327/938) (Leiden, the Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2001), 41-44, 57-58, 80-81, 91-92, 127-129. Cf. Scott C. Lucas, Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunnī Islam: The Legacy of the Generation of Ibn Saʿd, Ibn Maʿīn, and Ibn Ḥanbal (Leiden, the Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2004), 119, 151 ff., and Belal Abu-Alabbas, ‘The Principles of Hadith Criticism in the Writings of al-Shāfiʿī and Muslim’, Islamic Law and Society, Volume 24 (2017), 335. But cf. in turn Christopher Melchert, ‘Lucas, Scott C. Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunnī Islam: The Legacy of the Generation of Ibn Saʿd, Ibn Maʿīn, and Ibn Ḥanbal’, Islamic Law and Society, Volume 13, Number 3 (2006), 412.
[7] E.g., id., ‘Sectaries in the Six Books: Evidence for their Exclusion from the Sunni Community’, The Muslim World, Volume 82, Numbers 3-4 (1992), 294.
[8] Again, the question of the first Hadith critics will be addressed in a future article; for now, cf. Dickinson and Melchert, cited above.
[9] Jonathan A. C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, 2nd ed. (Oxford, UK: Oneworld Academic, 2018 [first published 2009]), 83.
[10] Ibid., 110.
[11] Ibid., 102 ff., 107-109.